Find a Reason to Explore
Sometimes, no matter how much we want to do something, work, social obligations and just general life can fill up all our time, and then, even when we do have time, we’re too tired to do the things that we wanted to do anyways. I’ve had times like this with adventuring and traveling. As much as I'd wanted to hike on the weekends, by the time Saturday afternoon hit I was either hungover from the night before or my friends wanted to meet for coffee or more beers. The cycle continued. Before I knew it, I hadn’t travelled or explored in months. I did, however, know that to be fully happy with my life, I needed to incorporate travel and exploration in some way, so I had to figure out a way to force myself to make the time and incorporate it into my schedule. That’s where this website comes into play.I’m not saying that you have to start a travel/adventure website (unless you really want to), but find a reason to go outside and explore more. You’ll feel less stressed from your already presumably busy life by getting some fresh air. You’ll also start to see more of the beauty that’s around you. Here are a few ways you can “force” yourself to explore more:
Blog
I might as well start with exactly what I did to find a reason to explore. I started this blog. To make this blog successful, I have to get outside, take photos and come up with article/story ideas, as the sole purpose of it is to share my adventures, thoughts and experiences. This doesn’t mean that you need to quit your day job to constantly go outside, find content and create material for your website. You can update it as frequently as you’d like. I try to add a new article every one to two weeks. This means that I really only need to explore once during that time to get some new photos or an article idea. This is definitely a manageable feat.
Social Media
A lot of us love using social media. Everywhere I look people are snapchatting, tweeting or uploading something to Facebook, so why not create posts based on your outdoor adventures? I use Instagram a lot because I love taking photos, but it also helps me promote my blog. This means that, even if I don’t need to go on a hike or travel to get article ideas, I still need to go out on a consistent basis to get photos to keep my Instagram content rolling. Again, you don’t need to start a travel blog or website to focus on creating exploration-based social media content; you can also just do it for fun. Some of the best Instagram pages with the most followers are the ones of people that just love sharing their adventure photos with the hopes of inspiring people to do the same.
Photography
If the two ideas above don’t seem appealing to you, try taking up landscape photography as a hobby (or even take it professional). Photography provides a great excuse to find a reason to get outside and explore, as there are all sorts of great landscapes (both locally and internationally) that can be photographed in different ways. If you’re a total beginner, there are a number of different approaches you can take to become comfortable behind a camera: follow different landscape photographers on Instagram, take photography classes, and research how to take and edit landscape photos online. The best way to figure out what kind of photos and styles you like, however, is to immerse yourself in the hobby. The more you look at other people’s photos and simply go outside and take your own, the sooner you’ll develop your own taste, style and skills for landscape photography.If photography isn’t your thing, you could also try painting or sketching, as the changing lights and colours of landscapes lend itself well to these visual arts and will really help you focus on the natural scene right in front of you and all of it details.
Fitness
I love going to the gym, but sometimes it’s nice to get away from the dumbbells, treadmills and yoga mats and take my fitness outdoors. Hiking is not only a great way to keep up with your adventures, but it’s also a great way to stay in shape. Depending on how long you plan to hike for and what kind of terrain you plan on trekking, hiking provides a good cardio workout that you can do year round. The fresh air will also help clear the stress from your mind. A few other ideas for working out outside include bouldering, swimming and even taking your gym routine with you to your backyard or local park. The best part about working out outside, though, is that it not only helps you get outside and adventure more, but it also keeps your workouts fresh and exciting, which, in the long run, will help you stick with your fitness routine. Try incorporating a day or two of hiking or walking outdoors into your gym routine. If you love the outdoors like me, you’ll probably try and keep this in the regime.This is by no means a comprehensive list. If you decide to throw out your drip coffee maker so that you are forced to wake up every day, throw on your coat and walk to the local coffee shop then by all means do that. All I’m saying is, there’s a beautiful world out there; don’t miss it because “you don’t have time.”For more content like this, follow me here.